Chapter Seven: I Can Stop the Pain If I Will It All Away

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet violet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
Wretch,' I cried, thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!'
Quoth the raven, Nevermore.'

Hatred smiled from her place in the shadows of Raven's mind. Her plan had worked perfectly. Robin had torn out her doppelganger's heart, and hurt Raven as well. Now, all that was left was to get rid of Boy Wonder. That bastard had hurt her for the last time, though she owed him for setting her free. She teleported to the gate of the realm, and muttered her magic under her breath. A second stone archway rose out of the ground, directly in front of the first. Robin would go through here, instead of through the first one. There, he would see. A shark like grin crossed Hatred's face, red eyes glowing with a dark purpose rising within. Nevermore hadn't seen this much fun since Hatred had been born, a result of her father's impact. Love was the oldest, so that would mean she'd be the first to go. It only made sense. Hatred smiled, and stepped through the newly created portal. There, she began using the mechanics and pieces of Raven's dreams and nightmares to create a realm for her own sinister purpose.

Back in the Titan's dimension, Cyborg was still watching the bleeps on the numerous monitors. Beast Boy and Starfire had gone to bed, though Star still came in ever hour or so to check on the dark girl. Cyborg had begun to worry about both Raven and Robin. His body had been left behind when he had gone to Nevermore, and he had been in a coma since. The mirror lay on a table between the two bodies, and flashed occasionally. When this happened, the lights flickered, and Cyborg was jerked from his reveries.

What was going on between Raven and Robin? Why were they both being so secretive? He shook his head. Suddenly, the mirror began to glow. Cyborg glanced over, somewhat accustomed to the thing illuminating the room momentarily. The mirror's glow turned harsher, and four red eyes opened on its surface. Cyborg looked up again as the mirror began to float off the table, and tremble in midair. It flew out of the room, faster than Cyborg could comprehend. He got up, and, as he did so, the room began to spin. He fell to the ground, his batteries dead.

The mirror appeared in Starfire's room, and floated over to her bed. She sat up, and flung several green orbs of energy at the mirror, screaming as it came closer. She felt a sudden sensation of vertigo, as the room began to spin in the half-darkness. Her scream was cut off as her translucent soul vanished into the obsidian surface of the mirror.

"Raven...I..."

"Robin, I can still last for a few hours. Please, find a way to get me out of here." Raven winced in pain. Love hadn't moved in a while, and her breathing had begun to rasp in her chest.

"But I shouldn't leave. What if something happens to you?"

"What can happen to me now? You've destroyed Hatred. There's nothing else here that will hurt me."

"Okay. I'll be back soon." Robin turned his back to the ailing demon, and leapt off the side of the monolith. At the base of the rock, he was relieved to find all of the other Ravens free of the black energy, and waking slowly. Some moaned or cursed in pain, and a few tried to get up. Robin ran away from them, in the direction he had come from. His plan was to return to the other realms of Raven's mind, and maybe to the real world, in order to find a way to set her free. The crimson rivers had quit surging, and had drained enough to become simple fissures in the rain-starved terrain. Robin hardly noticed, however, because the gate had come into sight. He sped up as he neared the arch, and disappeared through the gate.

He found himself in the area he had been in before, crimson stars gleaming like rubies in the void overhead. Robin walked forward, and saw something dart from behind a rock to another out of the corner of his eye. He turned to face the shadow-clad figure, who stepped from the shadows, revealing herself to be--"Raven?!"

"Yes Robin. I got out. Everything will be fine."

"Raven...there's something different about you. What happened to you?"

"Since when do you care?" Raven muttered, the edge in her voice sharper than a knife. She closed her eyes, and four red ones opened.

"What?! But I--"

"No Robin. You didn't destroy me. If anyone, you hurt Raven. Why are you always doing that?" Hatred laughed, her cloak returning to its original bloodred hue.

"What do you mean?" Robin pulled the remainder of his arsenal of freezing discs, ready to throw them at a moment's notice.

"Well, you've made her cry countless times, you know. You should've seen her. All those time's she's gone to 'meditate', she went to her room, or came here, and cried like a little baby. Sometimes, I paid her little visits, you know, those explosions? I was telling her how horrible she was, and how perfect you were. She just died when she realized you were everything she wasn't, and that you were beyond her reach. Every time you complemented her, she tried to keep from crying. Oh, Timid was just having the worst time imaginable. She couldn't figure you out. Here, let me show you what you did to her." A shark like grin spread across Hatred's face as she lunged forward, caught Robin's cape, and flew to a fissure yawning between the rocks. She dropped him into the rocky chasm, and flew after him, laughing as she and Robin hurdled toward the ground. Robin tried to deploy his grappling hook, but the red and yellow hook just bounced off the sheer black walls. Hatred caught him just as he was about to hit the bottom. She glided over to an outcropping in the wall, and chained Robin there with her own dark energy. Hanging by his arms, Robin was helpless against the demon of Raven's wrath. "Now, I'll let you see what you've done to her." Hatred laughed, and Robin felt the icy sting of her breath on his cheek. Hatred put a hand on the back of his head, and kissed him. He screamed and writhed as he witnessed the horrors Raven had suffered.

A.N. Hullo all. Thanks Dark Weezing and Raven Princess of Azerath for the reviews! You don't know how much better I feel, now that I know that SOMEONE out there appreciates my work. There will be at least two more chapters, and perhaps I will undertake the sequel idea. I'll try to keep you people posted with new chapters. WOOT!!! I hope you enjoy the remainder of the story. Please review me and tell me if this chapter doesn't fit, because, as I was writing it, I had my doubts. Thanks again!

Julia-Nevermore